You dream of the library, standing in the pillared entranceway, which instead of being pitch black with thick, cloudy water hampering your vision, is now brightly lit by magical lamps on the walls and hovering lights adorning an imaginary chandelier, which illuminate every colorful detail of the now-unflooded room. Your view shifts, angling up to view the ceiling, on which is a vibrant map of the library, and where once was the worn remains of illegibile runescript is now illuminated words: “Hall of Relics.” “Linguistics and Reference.” “Research in Progress.” “Office of the Curator.” You seem to be viewing the library from someone else’s eyes.

You also see numerous people of two distinct races in the room. One of them tall and slender, with fine, delicate features, long ears; dark hair hanging loose. They wear thin, shimmering robes, and numerous ornate earrings. The other race is short and powerfully built, with blood red hair and beards, braided and heavily ornamented. They wear leather, and their fingers are adorned with thick, heavy rings of gold, silver, and jewels. Both races mill about the library, conversing and reading and laughing and writing…

The unknown watcher walks to the rear of the room and ascends the right-hand staircase, walking past shelves of books, whole and well-cared for. One of the stone guardians of the library can be seen standing stock still between parallel shelves, waiting patiently for his duties to resume.

A peal of laughter from outside wakes you.

Zemya and Lulabelle, realizing they both dreamed of the library, asked Mr. Bobo about the significance. Mr. Bobo conceded he didn’t know what they meant, but conjectured that by continuing to research the books, they may learn more about the old civilization.

A knock at the door interrupted their brainstorming, and Mr. Bobo quickly explained that he had volunteered both himself and the elemental staff to assist with the festival. Brie Stilton silently (but happily) collected Mr. Bobo and the elemental staff and set off into the crowd of people.

Outside, people had lined the main road of the town with blankets and carts and stalls, each offering various peasant dishes served free of charge to anyone walking by. Zemya and Lulabelle ventured out into the streets to sample the fare offered, including

a stew that looked like dinner, but smelled like pancakes being simmered in several large pots by a male gnome in an over-sized chefs hat at a stall large enough for humans; and

very thin, but hardy sandwiches being served at a cart parked in front of a tent by a male dwarf in a hair[-and-beard] net (who, upon further inspection, turned out to be Corin, and, when asked for a sandwich, turned back to the tent to give the order, which was immediately followed by a full minute of ear-splitting hammering); which led the PCs to the conclusion that

the town they live in is weird.

Laborers and their families filled the street. The two spotted a pair of children across the street at a stall, one in a wide-brimmed hat, and one with golden sausage curls, sampling one of the peasant dishes before disappearing behind the crowd.

Out of force of habit, the PCs checked the Adventurer’s Board and found a rundown of the day’s events:

[On fancy colored paper in small block lettering] Lonk’s Discount Adventurers Goods is proud to present “A Daye in the Liffe of an Adventurere.” Show off your talents at numerous testing stations! Beat the stuffing out of our animated straw dummy! Scurry up our climber’s wall to escape the dangerous dungeon vermin!

[Written in ornamental script on thick scroll parchment bearing a phoenix watermark] Were you once a wise and just noble? Perhaps a hero who slew a terrible beast? Your past lives are laid bare before the great God of Reincarnation! Come for the free potions, stay for a consultation! (One potion per person, please!)

[In sloppy handwriting with ink blots smeared across the crumpled page] FLw3Rz anD Pl4nTz wITh HUdGiSh

[Printed on thin, smooth paper] A pie-eating contest sponsored by the Stiltons will be held this evening in front of the Wilting Pony.

Zemya and Lulabelle first visited Hugdish by the Stiltons’ farm, where they found a gorgeous assortment of arranged flowers and a picturesque cornucopia on display, much to the amazement of the women in attendance. Hugdish gifted Zemya with a small basket of flowered collars for her swarm and Lulabelle with a hair-clipped corsage. He thanked them for saving the orcs, jokingly challenged them to the Stiltons’ pie-eating contest later in the day (which Lulabelle accepted), and offered to share a bit of his special crop with them afterward. At the PCs’ request, Hugdish also made a smaller flower wreath and another flowered collar, which were given to Brie (who blushed and smiled brightly) and Mr. Bobo (who had to be held down by lizards).

The two joined the PCs to visit Pfen at his nearly completed temple. The self-proclaimed god was tracing the palm lines of the innkeeper’s daughter, reading her past lives, telling her she had previously been an elvish princess from the Moonshae Isle, noble and wise, and before that a pegasus, proud and fair. This drew pointed snorts of derision from Zemya.

Once the reading was complete, Zemya and Lulabelle insisted that Pfen read the past lives of Mr. Bobo. After an odd exchange seemingly in his head, Pfen indicated that it would be best if they were to discuss it at another time, in private. Mr. Bobo scoffed and refused in no uncertain terms, questioning the legitimacy of both the god’s information and his lineage. When asked if he could divulge what he saw, Pfen declined, citing it to be Mr. Bobo’s decision. Instead, Pfen read the past lives of Zemya (who had been a lizard, a bear, and numerous other great predators of the animal kingdom) and Lulabelle (which gave him a powerful headache).

Next they visited Lonk, who had set up behind LDAGs. The diminutive elf was fitting an elven male with overstuffed padded armor and stuffing straw back into a scarecrow holding a wooden sword. The PCs, along with a score of cheering onlookers, watched as the boisterous elf charged the scarecrow, only to get struck in the head by the animated straw man, which sent hails of laughter through the crowd. At Lonk’s request for another challenger, Zemya offered, which hushed the crowd (and terrified the scarecrow).

In a hushed conversation as he strapped her into the padded armor, Lonk told Zemya the scarecrow was just a very rudimentary straw golem used in training and that she would demolish it. When Zemya offered to take a dive, Lonk had a flash of inspiration and started calling for bets. The crowd, to a man, put their money on Zemya.

Zemya, for her part, put on a good show of feinting and sparring, then set herself up to get clocked firmly on the head (2 subdual damage), which she used to fall to the ground, inciting the crowd to boos. One of the lizards, the one named Jesus specifically, crawled atop her head, glowed briefly but brightly, and healed her (0 subdual damage). Having no choice but to get back up, Zemya took another pulled swing at the straw golem, but knocked its head off, costing Lonk about 30g in bets. To soften the blow, Zemya proudly declared that all her equipment was purchased from Lonk’s.

Back out on the main street, the PCs knocked on Miss Swiss’s door, but received no reply. They mused briefly on where the halfling might be, but their thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a nixie’s voice mixed in with the hubbub. Lulabelle spotted Quip and Taelin walking among the townspeople and ran up to meet them, but slowed when she bumped into the child with the wide-brimmed hat and the other with the golden sausage curls. The two looked up at her with the ugliest, scaliest faces ever seen on a child, then bolted down the road. Zemya, spotting them as kobolds in disguise, gave chase, catching up to them outside the Stiltons’ farm. After a very brief interrogation, the kobolds admitted to coming up with the plan because they saw the activity around the town and wanted to eat big-folk food. Zemya accepted this, but threatened to hunt them down if anything happened at the festival.

Pre-Festival - Orcs in Danger

Notes: The characters woke to the sounds of great bustling outside and the scribbling of an ink-dipped beak on the desk. Mr. Bobo, who pulled another all-nighter, finished up notes on the two runescript books and insisted that the two use his notes to attempt to read the books as an attempt to learn the language (and other, unspoken benefits).

Outside, the two encountered a great deal of activity: people were bustling about the street carting fresh-picked veggies, hefting masonry for the Temple of Pfen, carrying dried meat (presumably bear jerky), unloading a cart of sacks and crates parked outside the inn, erecting posts and hanging lanterns across the main street. A lute was even being played from the second floor window of the inn. Upon inquiry, one of the laborers informed them that the bridge was back up, and that the Stiltons were throwing a three-day harvest festival the day after next.

The two wandered over to the Adventurers’ Board, where they saw the following:

The schedule shows a lesson later that day (“Your Kiai and You”).

A post by the Siltons announcing a three-day harvest festival (with bear jerky!) beginning in two days (these signs can also be seen elsewhere in the town: the inn, on the adventurer cottages). Laborers eat free; adventurers are 10g ea. (“Please consider this a fundraiser; all proceeds will go towards permanent housing for the laborers.”)

A note scrawled in terrible handwriting that says “HELP” with a backwards “E.”

The tacked remains of a note torn off the board.

Inside LDAGs, a throng of people were gathered around a cordoned-off area. Lonk ushered the two in through the gathering and behind the posts to see a wooden mannequin dressed in a blue, chain-woven tunic, a blue cap, and a large metal shield with a peculiar crest on it. After a sales pitch, he then led them over to the counter, he also showed them a bracelet of interwoven ivory and red gemstone, described as a bracelet of power, and beneath the counter in a locked box locked inside another box, a wood sword he referred to as “THE Wooden Sword.”

Determining that the “HELP” request was from Hugdish, the two went to the Stilton farm. Hugdish requested they check out the gnolls in the Silver Gap, who he believed were up to something bad from the strange noises he heard walking past their cave.

Players purchased equipment in preparation of the journey, then set out to the Silver Gap. After seeing nothing at the gnoll cave and hearing a commotion further upstream, the pushed on to find a charred orc corpse at the entrance to the orcs’ cave. Inside, they found five gnolls and a few small elementals attacking the orcs in their cave, who they engaged in combat. The leader of the gnolls carried a rune-scribed staff, which he used to summon more elementals, bolstering their forces.

Lonk's Second Dungeon - Part 2

Notes: The group continued exploring the underwater library, eventually stumbling upon a stairway that led up out of the water, where they found a small, well furnished room with a desk with quill and chair, an armoire, a standing candelabra, a small stool, and an area rug. The group, assuming it to be the curator’s office, entered to search for a way to disable the golems, but stopped short when their intrusion caused the furniture to come alive and attack them. After a frustrating and intense battle (during which Lonk was saved no less than two times by Miss Swiss, and Zemya was able to force open a desk drawer and steal a rune-scribed key) they searched the remains of the room. They found a leather scroll case and a bag of black pearls inside the desk, and two thick runescript books inside the armoire. The group continued searching the underwater library, finding an exhibit room of treasures displayed in glass enclosures, where they found a fire-opal pendant on a fine gold chain, and a harp with a single remaining string, which surprised them by faintly playing its only available note while they discussed how to bring it to the surface. They returned to the surface to camp, and the spoils given to Mr. Bobo to analyze. The raven, studying the key, gave them a passphrase to use on the stone golems to disable them, and instructed them to bring him any language reference book they could find. Taelin again joined the group for the evening, and after an awkward pause, took Lulabelle to her tent for the night. Miss Swiss, also displaying impish initiative, took Lonk by the hand and ran off with him into the woods, neither being seen until the next morning. The next day, the PCs returned to the depths and completed their task: Lulabelle disabled the golems with the key and passphrase, and Zemya completed exploration of the library, discovering in a glass-domed stand a book that contained both runescript and Goblin (among many other languages).

Treasure acquired: A fire opal necklace, a bag of black pearls, a golden bracelet, two runescript books (unidentified), a customized scroll of Word of Recall, a rune-covered key, a harp with one string, and a preserved manual written by a linguistics master.

Lonk's Second Dungeon - Part 1

Notes:Mr. Bobo identified the brass ring (which is now a shining white metal with a single, inset ruby) as a Ring of Wishing, and marveled at the possibility of finding more relics of a civilization advanced enough to produce the ring. Players went to Lonk’s Discount Adventurers’ Goods and spoke with Fontinella (who has taken a part-time job there) to learn Lonk was teaching a lesson. After a few helpful demonstrations from substitute instructor Miss Swiss, Lonk agreed to share the location of some more ruins (which he received from a contact in his homeland) in exchange for a spot in the adventuring party. At that point, Mr. Stilton ran through town shouting about a great beast at the farm, destroying crops. The beast turned out to be a bear, which was turned into jerky for the good of the town. Players & Lonk left the next day for the ruins, arriving at a lake in the care of a nixie, Quip, and her nymph, Taelin. Quip confirmed the location of the ruins beneath the water, and agreed to assist the group in reaching them if they promised to stop the noise emanating from it—a low, deep rumble every few seconds with clockwork regularity. As the water was too cloudy to traverse that day, the group camped for the evening, and Taelin joined the adventurers around their campfire. The next day, Quip (endowing the group with water breathing through a kiss of suggestive length) and Taelin lead them down to the ruins, then left. Players explored the flooded structure (a library, upon investigation) and sourced the noise as a collection of stone golems patrolling the halls with synchronous steps. The golems’ whose legs had worn and broken away, forcing the construct to move via its hands. Players subdued one of the golems by encasing one of its shoulders in ice, then shattering it.

Missing Goods

Notes: For once, Lonk posted on his own Adventurers’ Board, requesting assistance in locating some late goods. Due to the heavy rains for the past few days, it was quite probable that the cart became mired in the shoddy, dirt roads. He instructed the PCs to meet up with a pair of dwarves he had hired to help move the wagon. They found Corin and Dorin in a tiny tent (with several large, underground rooms) in the laborers’ camp and together they rode north to the nearest city across the Silver Gap. Upon reaching the bridge, they found it been cut by a band of marauding hobgoblins. Zemya raced back to town, winding her steed, but warning the town of the impending attack. The hobgoblins appeared moments after the rest of the group arrived, and stormed the (safely evacuated) laborers’ camp. Together with Lonk, Miss Swiss, and Pfen, the group successfully and decisively repelled the assault.

Interlude

Notes: The players met Pfen, who had just arrived in town with some hired labor to erect a stone-built temple. The cleric was staying at the inn, and the players were given a consultation about their past lives and an offer to join the church. New items came to Lonk’s Discount Adventurers’ Goods: Bug-catching nets, shovels, a letter (in Goblin), deku sticks (arranged attractively in a large, glazed pot), slingshots, and an enchanted longbow for Lulabelle. Lonk promised more great items were coming in the next shipment, which would arrive in a few days. He paid them for the herbs, and then forwarded half of the payment to Hugdish, who thanked them, wide-eyed and grateful. Mr. Bobo, who became oddly silent when the ring was shoved around his beak (for non-obvious reasons), spent the day researching the ring.

Lonk's First Dungeon - Part 2

Notes: Introduction to Fred, the dancing lizard, and Jesus, the glowing lizard. Players completed exploration of the dungeon (with Miss Swiss attempting to get herself killed in a small tunnel, saved by Jesus), leading up to the small mountain summit. A line of worn statues led them to the center of the summit, where raised stones held a griffin’s nest, swarmed with monstrous centipedes (large x7, huge x1). Players searched the nest afterwards, finding a small trove of valuables.

Lonk's First Dungeon - Part 1

Notes: Players rescued Lonk from a locked wooden chest (where his simian captors had shoved him), searched the forested grounds to reveal several humanoid statues with time-decayed features, found a detachable monkey tail that seemed to entrance the local monkeys, explored a small network of caves that seemed to travel up the mountain, and battled two groups of stirge while investigating the sounds of an underground river.

Lonk's First Dungeon - Intro

Notes: The players met Miss Swiss and riding dog, Hut Shokolut, who has been advertising her services as an adventuress through a stack of flyers (which seem to mysteriously disappear from Lonk’s Adventuring Board). During the introduction, the three spy Lonk suspiciously closing shop early and disappearing into the woods outside town. They decisively follow the young elf into the woods, traveling until nightfall. When Lonk sets up camp outside mountain dotted with the ruins of a previous civilization, the adventurers follow suit, setting up a quarter-mile back. An hour later, they see a ghostly apparition of Lonk appear in the middle of their camp, who asks for help. When pried for information, he tells them he was investigating the mountain ruins and was imprisoned by monkeys.

Introduction, and Hugdish's disappearance

Notes: Zemya and Lulabelle met the Stiltons, who gave them a bag of cheese and healing potions and asked them to find Hugdish, a half-orc laborer with a green thumb (figuratively and literally). Wensleydale said that he hangs around with a bad lot of orcs in the Silver Gap, beneath the high-elevation bridge that leads out of the Doolifookt valley. Players traveled half a day to the bottom of the gap and followed the river upstream, encountering kobolds, gnolls, and finally orcs, with whom they found Hugdish, sharing the fruits of the laborer’s green thumb. During the escort back to town, they were waylaid by gnolls, who were themselves waylaid by hungry kobolds.